Posted on

Survivors

Dear Reader,

If you are reading this, it means you have survived midterm season one. Congratulations. I was barely setting up a study routine when I found myself in the Science Library taking a 32-question, 2-hour chemistry exam. Throughout these three weeks, I have gathered enough heads-ups to help you walk victoriously out of this sanguinary season. 

My sanctuary at UCI

Your worst enemy: Technical Issues. 

Overwhelmed by pop-up links and syllabi on Canvas, I fell into the habit of disregarding resources, left and right. One of the caveats I overlooked was about calculators. Days before the exam, frustrated by doing practice problems and never getting the right answers,  I decided to trust myself and doubt the efficiency of my calculator and switched to my phone. For the midterm, I had to use my old one and fix calculator miscalculations. In a midterm and for Canvas, time and accuracy are well defined. Misplaced decimals, ambitious roundings, unanswered questions. Being comfortable with the materials you use, can make the difference in passing or failing an exam. Be aware!

San Joaquin Marsh (across Mesa Court Housing). Relaxing field trip amid midterm season.

Notifications, notifications, notifications. 

Don’t attempt to renew yourself at the last minute. In high school, I relied on a physical planner but I concluded that paper-made planners were not an eco-friendly method to reach academic success. Since the beginning of the quarter, I have used a digital planner. I wrestled with how to manipulate the algorithms, and the interface, what happens if I click here? I favored the environment but not my sanity. Along with my virtual planner, I have been using a task tracker (a to-do list that allows you to accommodate by priority). This combo has helped ensure I’m at the right place, at the right time, with the right people. Notifications from both systems have saved me from forgetting about minuscule assignments–“I’ll do it later” I said– and, thus, a zero in the gradebook. 

Run, Jump, Organize! 

 Being the master of your time can be detrimental to your own self. Time, money, and energy are limited as a college student. Lectures and assignments are priority but an appealing resume demands more. Clubs, volunteering, office hours, laundry, eating. Integrating even the most micro-action into your schedule can make you epitome efficient. Set times and be severe about failing to your own schedule. Treat office hours as required, make club meetings and gym sessions mandatory. You will feel more committed and you will end up more satisfied with your progress and the several accomplishments you will harness.

Hares that persecuted me on my way to the Arc (following scheduled workout session)

Dear reader, embrace the process. It is the first step along the way, if you stumble, if you fall, it all adds up to the final goal. Our flaws and mistakes are part of our beauty, they are the traits that make us more unique than anything else, so embrace it and be proud of falling and rising.

Keep teasing, questioning, challenging life

Warm regards, 

Glenda O. 

Posted on

Enter Bella: U/U Zot Blog 2024-2025

What’s up, Anteaters! I’m Bella, and I’ve traveled here all the way from the San Francisco Bay Area and now reside in Middle Earth. Though I came into UCI as undecided, I’m interested in switching to either film or game design. Really anything that lets me be hands on and creative! I’ve had a few experiences in high school working on film productions as part of an internship, so I’m hoping to use what I’ve learned and apply it here at UCI in some way whether that be for the vlog, film club, or for a potential film major. 

While moving into my dorm at UCI, I was extremely nervous about having to live on my own without my family and in an unfamiliar environment. However, the orientation and welcome week hosted by the university completely exceeded my expectations and my view on university life took a huge 180. All the events hosted during welcome week showed me how inclusive, engaging, and social UCI is, and it made me eager to branch out and learn more. One of my favorite events was the club fair. There were an absurd amount of clubs scattered across Aldrich park, and I won’t lie it was kind of overwhelming. I didn’t know where to start! Unfortunately, because of my busy course schedule, I couldn’t join too many clubs this quarter. I ended up choosing two clubs which I’m super excited about starting! Since freshman year of high school, I played on my school’s varsity badminton team, and in my sophomore year I was the team captain in our team of about fifty players. I absolutely wanted to continue playing competitively during college and also improve by playing against higher-level athletes, so I joined UCI’s badminton club. Badminton is an extremely fun sport whether you want to play competitively or intramurally, so if any of you are looking for a new way to exercise and make new friends I totally recommend joining UCI’s badminton club! Badminton had taken up a largely significant part of my life in high school, so I didn’t have much time for anything else like joining the school dance team, which I had really wanted to do. So while at UCI I hope to take advantage of the opportunities with their several dance teams. I ended up joining Kkap, one of the dance teams recommended to me by a fellow anteater who I knew in high school. Every Friday they have a free workshop where they focus on learning dances by k-pop bands. I’m super excited to join their first workshop where they’ll be practicing Chk Chk Boom by Stray Kids, and Touch by Katseye. I’ve already started practicing lol! If any of you are in Kkap I’d love to get to meet you!


Here’s a pic of the free albums we got at the Kkap booth during the club fair!

Getting the chance to check out these club booths and also interacting with the club members was such a welcoming experience. And knowing now that there are places and people at UCI who can share my experiences and interests makes me feel more at home, and more eager to be a part of the community. If you haven’t joined any clubs yet, I totally recommend that you do! It may seem daunting at first trying to fit in into your schedule, or even trying to talk to new people, but I assure you it will be rewarding. It’ll help you form a community where you can take a break from the stress of college work, enjoy your interests outside of class work with people who share your passion, and maybe even offer you an opportunity to discover something new you never knew you’d like. Go put yourself out there and give it a shot!

Besides the events during orientation week, I’ve tried to explore around the campus and see what the town of Irvine has to offer. I checked out the University Center (aka UTC) where I found tons of amazing restaurants that offered healthy and delicious food choices such as Tender Greens, or Iro Sushi. If you’re looking for a quick bite to eat, there’s also In-N-Out and Chick Fil A. And of course, since I’m a boba fanatic, I had to check out the several boba shops at the utc! I tried out the fruit tea at Pink Pig (super cute atmosphere with places to sit and study; they also have plushies), Share Tea (it was ok; nowhere to sit, and the kiwi tea I got was…interesting lol), and finally Cha For Tea which I hear is everyone’s favorite (delicious, nice atmosphere with places to sit and study, always crowded lol). I’d say my overall favorite would also be Cha For Tea, but Pink Pig was super cute too! Go check those out! 

The owner at Pink Pig gave me a free panda plushie purse! >w<

Anyways! There’s so much more I want to share with you guys about move in week and traveling around the rest of UCI, but I think I’ve written a bit too much already haha. I’m so excited and looking forward to meeting everyone I can at UCI through clubs and classes, as well as exploring more around the city of Irvine! I hope you guys take the chance to explore as well as you will never find so many opportunities sitting in one place waiting for you. Wishing you all a fantastic first week at UCI! Zot Zot Zot!!

Posted on

Enter Rohan: U/U Zot Blog 2024-2025

Hi, my name is Rohan Roy and I am from the San Francisco Bay Area. Like many of you, I am also undeclared but hope to pursue a degree in Accounting and potentially Economics. A bit about me is that I enjoy playing soccer, watching college football, playing ping-pong/pickleball, and playing poker with friends. I just started learning to golf. This past summer and senior year of high school has been better than I could imagine, getting to celebrate the closing of a chapter with so many close friends and family has been a time that I will never forget. My favorite memory of this past year was over spring break, I was in Hawaii with a few friends, taking some time to decompose and take in all the fun we had been having the past year, as well as relieving the stresses that came along with it. On our final morning in Waikiki, I woke up to check my phone to see if our flight was still on time and saw an email saying there was an update in my UCI portal. Once logged in, I squinted my eyes, crossed my fingers, and saw the first word in the letter: “Congratulations.” After that, the little Anteater confetti started to fall from the top of the screen and it felt like the biggest weight lifted off my shoulders. I finally felt like I had gotten into a school that I was proud to say I was going to; a great school academically, and in a great area. I hope that is how you all felt reading your acceptance letter, and I also wanted to say congratulations to you all.

In the last few years, I went to Southern California multiple times yearly for soccer tournaments, mostly in San Diego and Orange County. At the time, I never would have thought I would get to go to school in such a nice area.

The most recent time I went down was in late July this year for orientation. I remember in the seven-hour car ride down, it hit me all at once; that I was finally going to college. I was having a lot of mixed emotions. Although I was excited to be a college student, I was going to miss my friends from high school, seeing my parents every day, the familiarity, and the overall feeling of being a kid. Naturally, the nerves took over, and leading into SPOP I was very scared about moving on to the next phase of my life.

It was clear to me after being around and getting to know students from all over during orientation, that going to college can be an uncomfortable transition. Which can be even more challenging as an undeclared student trying to figure out what path to take academically. Moving forward, through this blog I hope to share stories about how I am dealing with this change, stepping out of my comfort zone, updates on methods that are keeping me grounded as well as things that I have found interesting in the classroom that may spark a new major interest.

Lastly, I want to congratulate everyone once for making it to this point in their journey, because we all know it wasn’t easy, and wanted to wish you all the best of luck for what the next four years will bring. It’s going to be a great year.

Posted on

Enter Glenda: U/U Zot Blog 2024-2025

A pleasure to meet you, my dear reader. In my posts, you will find an anecdote inviting you into introspection, to take a novelistic approach to life, scientific insights, warm companionship, or solace. My mission is to collect as much information and tools as possible and to share them with you. I am Glenda. I am fond of knowledge and passionate about amplifying it and sharing it. These circumstances push me to stay active and productive. I enjoy contemplating life, reading, learning, and exploring. In my compendium of books, you can find from philosophical and historical novels to scientific literature. Pilates and HIIT workouts are my favorites, but I have dived into weight lifting, calisthenics, and everything that involves motion and staying in the present moment. My insatiable need to understand my surroundings and interact efficiently with them influences me to see Neurobiology as a pathway toward this goal; however, I am open to seizing unexpected paths, so I am currently undeclared. UCI has come as an undeniable opportunity to delve into the unknown, a precursor for life-changing experiences and wisdom.

My evident pragmatic nature has been forged throughout my life, most of which has taken place in the Aztec nation. I grew up in Mexico, surrounded by an intact colonial landscape that preserved the birthmarks of the fusion of Spanish civilization and Indigenous roots. Mines, leather, mummies, and cajeta (caramel sauce made by infusing and boiling goat milk and sugar cane), are heralds of the state I lived in, but zooming into the town I grew up in, there is more culture to unravel. Surrounded by opulent Catholic churches sheltering saints, lavish engravings, picturesque stained glass windows; and rustic brick dwellings, is a still turquoise lagoon formed in the insides of the inactive mouth of a volcano. Habitants furrow the enigmatic lagoon, extend their nets, and sell their earnings to the best-regarded restaurants in town. Mountains dazzle wild green, rising adamantly, allowing argonauts to see fertile fields of reed and corn, and discern remote villages. Leaving this behind, was a rushed decision and the sequels came later as sorrowful nostalgia. I got lost in memories and forgot about the present. I moved to the U.S. three years ago, and it has been a challenging journey to unravel. A new academic system, language, and lifestyle. It is a metamorphosis that keeps shaping identity. It is true that overcoming my past and accepting the present has been an arduous task but I am confident that I have landed in the right place to conquer my goals. I am prepared to revamp myself and reach sensations and experiences that I may be limiting myself from living. UCI represents the circumstances I need to thrive and explore my new limits. Dear reader, welcome to UCI. I hope my posts achieve their mission of helping me to help you.

Posted on

Enter Lucas: U/U Zot Blog 2024-2025

Hello!

About me: My name is Lucas. I am from the Central Valley of California in a little town called Patterson. I am attending UC Irvine this Fall of 2024 as an Undeclared major, interested in the Sciences and Business-related majors. A few interesting facts about me are that I love to play basketball, hike/walk, listen to music, play video games, and bike!

My SPOP experience at UC Irvine: The main topic for this blog is my experience of UC Irvine’s freshman SPOP orientation days! This orientation consists of a 2-day and 1 overnight stay on UC Irvine’s campus, getting to experience and feel what it is like living and walking around the university. I went to SPOP #9.

Day 1
Starting with day 1, you will have to check in for your SPOP orientation days early in the morning (for SPOP 9, check-in was @7:30am). Unfortunately, I looked at the wrong schedule and missed the first hour of check-in where you receive your room keys and other information. I ended up having to carry my extra baggage for more than half of the 1st day, so make sure to double-check your schedules or contact UCI Orientation (Email: orientation@uci.edu, Phone: 949-824-5182) if you have any questions or are unsure of the schedule like I was! I was able to attend my first session at 10 AM for the academic advising and program planning session where I got to meet the administration from the Undergraduate/Undeclared school who spoke about their goals for us and how they will help us get into our desired major(s) that are offered at UC Irvine. Moving onto lunch, it was an all-you-can-eat buffet where there was a huge selection of different meals. Definitely something to look forward to if you eat breakfast that day. Course registration was not that hard at all, but since I attended a later SPOP date, I was a bit limited to the classes I could choose. It can get stressful not getting the schedule you want, so I recommend trying to attend an earlier SPOP date for more options! The rest of the day consisted of exploring the campus organizations and meeting new people. Make sure to take advantage of the last few of these sessions as you will get to learn a lot more about campus resources, new interests, expanding your network, and creating friends!

Day 2
I started day 2 off with a heavy breakfast because I got pretty hungry at night on day 1 since I stayed up late. Having a few snacks ready to eat is essential when attending these full-day orientations, you’ll need them! You will have a Day 2 overview that will take place the next hour after breakfast, informing you about the Day 2 schedule. There will be a few workshops to choose from to learn more about the UC Irvine community, such as on-campus programs, Cultural Centers, and other Anteater experiences. I attended the Real Talk UCI workshop, where a panel of current students hosted a Q&A of their UC Irvine experiences. It was a great way to explore and learn about the different pathways each student took during their years at UC Irvine. Next, students got to meet up with parents, who went through their Parent orientation at the beginning of Day 2. For the rest of the day, I and my parents attended workshops that included Discovering Research, where you get to learn about research opportunities at UC Irvine, and also attended How to Find Part-time on-campus Jobs, where you learn more about how to use online resources like handshake to help navigate your job options. After these workshops, there was a busy lunch hour where we ate lots of the food the Anteatery was serving. I was so full after that lunch that I didn’t eat at all for the rest of the day.

Conclusion
My overall experience of UC Irvine’s SPOP was great. Got to learn lots of new information about school programs/organizations, made many new friends/networks, and had a great overnight stay experience! It is a great way to experience what it is like living an independent life on campus, especially if you are dorming for the year.